


Not for the history books

by fakebodies



Category: Rocky Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, WOW two trans au fics in one night? crazy, anyways y'all can blame my friend for this he said I should post it here, well not crazy lol i Love my trans favs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 05:26:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11937258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fakebodies/pseuds/fakebodies
Summary: Rocky can't picture his name on a big sign, drawing in crowds, but it doesn't matter. His life is his, and it's nothing special but it's good enough.





	Not for the history books

He’d had the talent to be a real fighter, sure. He’s still got it too, but he doesn’t want to be a real fighter. He can’t picture his name on a big sign, drawing crowds. Everyone thinks he’s a bum, a bum who fights bums. It’s not like Rocky fights only bums without a reason, though. If you fight in clubs, in dirty, smoky rooms where no one gives a shit who you are or who you’re fighting, no one pays attentions to the scars on your chest. The two thick lines that scream “something’s not right about this dude.” A real fight would be too personal. People would care. People would see those scars and start shit that Rocky wouldn’t be able to stop. At least with clubs, and at least with breaking legs, everyone knows not to try anything with him.

Rocky wasn’t ever too bright. He wasn’t ever really a girl, but that was what people said he was growing up. Even though he roughhoused and swore and smoked, because it made him feel tough. When he finally put his foot down and said “screw you, I’m no girl” people hadn’t taken him seriously. He wasn’t too bright, so he’s gotta be confused. He can’t know what he wants, or who he is, because his performance in school says he’s stupid. Maybe he is stupid, but he still knows who the hell he is better than anyone else.

Eventually he moved on, cut off ties with all the people who knew him back then and started making enough money to get on hormones, get surgery. It took a whole lot of saving, and it’s part of why he still lives in a dumpy little apartment, but eventually he figured it out. He was good at breaking legs, once he stopped doing other, less christian things for money- things he’d only done to start down the path towards manhood. He’d always been a man, but people take you more seriously when you don’t sound like a chick. He’d been so goddamn proud of his first beard, even though he decided it didn’t suit his face too well and shaved it only a few days after it grew in.

Maybe he could be a real fighter. Maybe, someday, the name Rocky Balboa could go up on a sign and draw in a crowd and no one would lose their shit over his scars. He doesn’t think it’s gonna happen any time soon, though, so he makes do fighting bums. He makes do with being a leg-breaker and living in a shitty little apartment with his fish and turtles. Maybe it isn’t a life for the history books, but it’s his life, and that’s the key word. _His_. There’s not a goddamn person now who’d say he isn’t man, and Rocky’s never gonna let that change.

**Author's Note:**

> find me at 2x4swrites.tumblr.com if you wanna see other shit I wrote


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